To help you understand my journey and struggles a bit, you need to know a little about my background.
Growing up I was pretty thin. I was one of THOSE people who could eat whatever and you could never tell. I had no idea that the habits I was forming when I was younger, was going to make things so much harder later in life. We grew up in a time when carbs were "good" and soda really wasn't bad, or so we thought. Grandma grew up in the south and I enjoyed some amazing cooking and meals and learned to cook them for my family as well. I didn't experience any changes in weight until I was about 18-19 and I didn't know what to do about it. But, before we talk about that, there are a few health issues we have to address first.
I led a pretty active lifestyle- we played outside all the time, rode bikes and I participated in extra curricular activities in school (cheerleading and running). When I was a freshman in high school- we were at an away track meet and that particular day, I wasn't running. At lunch we walked to the local Hardee's and I was in line to order when I first passed out. Laid out flat on the tile and hit my head pretty hard. It was pretty embarrassing, and since there we didn't have cell phones or anything, we couldn't call home. They checked me out, I felt ok (except my head hurting where I hit it) and we told my parents when I went home.
Over the next couple of months, it happened several more times. In class, wherever. My family doctor couldn't figure it out. I was a relatively healthy girl and there wasn't any reasonable explanation for this to happen. I can remember he told my parents I must not be eating. (Um, have you seen me eat??) They watched me to be sure I was eating. Then they told them maybe I was on drugs. (What?) Then he told my parents I must be faking it for attention. It was a really frustrating time for everyone. My parents decided that I would need to travel to St. Louis and go to Cardinal Glennon and be evaluated there. Maybe they would have some answers.
I went in early May for a week of tests to try and figure it out. As each test was performed and each one came back normal, we were all getting frustrated. On the 5th or 6th day, they put a Holter monitor on me to check my heart. I had already done stress tests, ekg, echocardiograms, so they thought this might help a bit. I when down to have another test done and I passed out there. We marked the event on the monitor and continued on with the tests and I went back to the room. What happened after they took the monitor off me, changed everything. When they examined the monitor and printed out the tape, they noticed that when I passed out, my heart had stopped. Flatlined for 13 seconds. Then restarted and continued as normal. The next thing I knew, doctors were meeting with my parents and they were scheduling emergency surgery to implant a pacemaker for my heart. I was hooked up to a heart monitor and limited to what I could do. It was definitely the scariest thing I have ever experienced.
On Mother's Day, 1988; I had my first pacemaker implanted. At that time it was a major surgery and required a minimum of a week's stay. When I was in recovery I remember coming out of anesthesia and seeing a man in black at the side of my bed. I panicked and yelled at him, as I was scared and thought I had died. Turns out it was a priest who had heard of my condition, and was coming to pray for me and make sure I was doing ok. I apologized to the poor man later, and he completely understood. After being discharged, everyone was very cautious with me. No more contact sports (I kept score a lot in PE). Very few young people my age had ever had one-so it was new for everybody. This was the first of major health issues I would have to encounter.
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